Improved canal-boat tow-line attachment



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEI'CE.

CHARLES BENT@ 0E MINDENVILLE nEW YORK.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 44,154, date-d September 13,1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that; I, CHARLES BENTZ, of

Mindenville, in the county of Montgomery'- .andrState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inWhilctree-'Hooks for the Tow-Lines of Canal-Boats o: other Similar Purposes; audl do hereby` declare that the following-is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation ot the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which` Figure l'represents a view ot the while- Vi'rre-hook-as connected to a whiffletree. Fig. 2 represents a longitudinal section through the same, showing the interior thereof.

. Similar letters of reference, where they occur in the separate figures, denote like parts of .th contrivance in both drawings.

My invention consists in the construction and combined arrangement of the hinged bar, tumbler, and lever, so as to be easily united to the whittlctree, and so that. the cockeye of a. traceor tow-line may be easily attached 'thereto and readily detached therefrom, as

may' be required.

lo enable others skilled in'thc art to make and use my invention, I will proceed tov describe the saine with reference to the drawings;

-A is a. cast hollow box shaped frame, which is united to the'whii'etree B by the bolts Cv C, onotherwise, 'remake itiirm and secure. 'lo one end ofthe frame or box A is hinged,

as at ,a curved bar, l), the 'free end, b, f which' is rounded oil',4 so asto take into a correspondingly-rounded recess, c, in the tumbler E, which is pivoted to the frame at d. This tumbler E is o'f a cam-shaped form, and hav- .ing a'kind of hooked point, e, thatiutelocks with a projection or catch', f, upon the'endof. thelev'er F, which is also pivoted to the frame,

as at;A g, and has, moreover, a spring, h, con'- nectcd'with it, to hold it 'in connection with the tumbler E, asshowi in Fig. 2. 'llonttach l a tow-line or other thing ftothis hook, yit is' only necessary to press the line or trace against the swing-bar D and force it `inward-the tumbler trom its form easily giving way to this movement. When-.the cockeye 'or lino has passedover the free end ofthe :swingbar and thepressure eased oil', thesprn g h. thro-Ws/ up the point. f ot' the lever F, which 'catches i the point e of the tumbler, and the draft-on# the line draws the point of the swing-bari) into the recess of the tumbler, in which position, as shown in Fig'. 2; it; will be firmly held against any strain upon the tow-line. To disengage the tow+line or trace; it is onlyl necesu sary to raise up the end of thefl'everRwhich releases the tumbler E, and the'draft continuingon Athe swing-bar D it ilies'up and rcleases the line, allowingit'. to slip ott. vA small boysuch as usually drive horses upon a canal--can manage this whiffletreehook with the greatest'readiness, and upon the approach of any necessity' for detaching thelne', however sudden it may be. The spring/L must,

of course, move in thearc-of a-circle as the.

lever moves, andt'or this purpose a stud, i, is

attached to the lever aroundwhich thcspring 4is placed, and a slot, m, is mdcin the framel 4A for thel stud to move through; 4and that the spring may not cramp or bindou the frame a' washer,.n,1is united' to it, which .washer slides 'upon` .the frame.

Having thus fully described my invention fand its operation, what I claim is on'AnLEs BENTZ'. Witnesses:

G. J. WHEELER, JOHN WHYLAND.A 

